I'm trying to cook a little, organize a little. Yesterday I made "Famous Dave's chicken and wild rice soup". I didn't have a jalapeno pepper--and it needed just that little bit of "zing". But its still good. A big pot of chili simmering in the crock pot--and 5 small loaves of banana bread are baked. There is still some cooked chicken left, that will become chicken salad sandwich filling.

Its a beautiful day outside, unusually warm for February but I'm not complaining!

My Arrowhead blocks are all trimmed. They're on the design wall and I've started sewing them together. Since they have bias edges I will not sew them in vertical rows--but rather in sections--"continents" as Pat says. They are not coming off the design wall again except as a completed top!

My blue/white Jacob's ladder blocks are sewn together. A narrow blue border yet--its destined for a bed--and all that white would quickly become grubby on the edges.

I have the pieced portions of 100 Birds in Air blocks--they're in a basket so I won't misplace them. The Plaid 4 patch is waiting for its turn on the wall. And Swoon block--maybe this weekend!

But best of all my friend Henrietta is here! Ken and I picked her up at the airport on Wednesday. She has the obligatory cold from traveling and being exposed to all the strange germs.

I won't tell you it was her birthday or how old she is--only one candle.

At first I hesitated because of all the triangles. Hmm--nope--I'll make HST's and make two of each fabric. After I had made several--I thought some more. Why have all those edges--surely I can piece these without those pesky bias edges. How can I cut diagonally and have my triangles? RECTANGLES!!

First--cut 3 print squares and 3 matching neutral squares. You will have matching pairs of blocks. Draw a line from corner to corner--sew on either side--cut apart--speedy HST's. Then I used a rectangles to make the single triangles.

Here are my "pieces". Sew the pieces together to get this---

Next step I'll cut a neutral rectangle to match my block. I'll draw a line on the back of the pieced block to sew on--I can make sure all my points are sharp. With rectangles in the diagonal portion of the block I have "fudge" room.

My squares were 3.5". The rectangles are 4.5" long. An extra inch will give me plenty of room to work with. And--no bias edges!

Well, you can see I've gotten distracted over the weekend figuring this out. But--I'm halfway done with enough blocks for a top. This is the year to remember to "enjoy the process"---and I enjoyed this!

Goals---

Trim Arrowhead blocks

Sew blue Jacob's ladder blocks together

Work on Plaid 4 patch

Piece a Swoon block

Those projects should keep me busy! Do you have anything special planned for this week? I think I'll bake Ken a chocolate cake for Valentine's Day.

In this week---0In year to date--37 ydsUsed this week--16.5ydsUsed year to date--29 ydsStash is ahead 8 yds8 yds. Not much--I'm gaining. This week I'll have another finish--just need to finishing some binding. Woohoo!!

I didn't post any goals but I've been sewing. Checking my 2012 guidelines keeps me on track. The blue and white Jacob's ladder blocks are sewn in rows and pressed. Next will be sewing the rows together.

I finished binding "Chains of Lurve (Love)" from a book called "Relax and Quilt". (yippee!!) A few years ago it was a project of Henrietta's while she was in South Dakota.

Chains of Lurve--70x82"

Trust me, there are a zillion pieces. Odd sized little devils. Henrietta pieced and pressed, I cut. This is truly a quilt that proves if you cut ugly fabric small enough--it works! I know there are guitars, pigs, tails without cats (I cut them off) bugs--just a wide assortment of scraps. Lots of seams--I'll estimate 11 yards for the stash report.

Baby Asher is home from the hospital (Tuesday) and we left for South Dakota shortly after that. Laura Beth says he continues to do a bit better each day--but she now has RSV. When you're a healthy adult--its just a cold.

I've finally caught up on my blogs even though I haven't commented much. Does that make me a "blog lurker"??

My design wall has a small Project Linus quilt on it. The pattern is only so-so--I had used some brights and practiced quilting clamshells on it. Its backed with flannel and I know some kid will use it and like it.

It's a small finish but its done and I will report it on next week's stash report.

Right now Ken and I are in Mankato. We had planned to visit this weekend and its good we're here--Asher has RSV and is in the hospital.

No sewing, I didn't bring any with me--I have managed to keep busy anyway. (insert eye rolling here!)

Asher has dietary issues--cannot tolerate any dairy or soy proteins--so Laura Beth is on a "no dairy--no soy" diet. That's pretty tough for a child who was raised on a dairy farm! That rules out the good stuff like cheesy pasta, milk and oreos, and 95% of what tastes good. Here is a picture of Laura Beth's plate from last night---

Chicken drumsticks, rice with veggies, and sweet potatoes. All prepared without dairy or soy. Laura Beth is craving chocolate (she did find dairy and soy free chocolate chips that are good). She loaded up on the sweet potatoes--they were sweet.

I didn't trim any Arrowhead blocks. "Chains of Lurve" is quilted. I have the Plaid 4 Patch units sewn into short rows---they are off the wall for the moment. They make a big pile--there are at least 100 short rows! No sewing on the Scrappy Bargello. I made two bindings, and found enough yellow binding for a small bright Linus quilt and did get it sewn on--just the hand sewing to be done. Pieced a border for a UFO--I must have had a moment of insanity--its a mitered border. No--I haven't sewn it on yet!

See the bindings tied neatly with a piece of selvage? Henrietta has rubbed off on me--her bindings are tied like that.

Its February and I need to check my yearly goals. I refolded/organized part of my stash. Yup--and I did two more fabric cubes last night. I made borders for a UFO--moved it one more step further. No color challenge block was made--but I did make 8 other blocks--4 to donate and a matching 4 for my sample quilt. Cut noodles and bricks from my scraps--now the box is truly--"scraps". I emptied a small plastic tote and my gadgets are stored in there.

I'm trying to decide what to quilt next. I'm leaning towards a favorite--Sunny Lanes. Its from the book Nickel Quilts --I put it together from swapped charms a couple of summers ago. And--to have a picture for my post--I have been working on the Plaid 4 Patch from the same book.

This isn't the final layout and its only about 1/2 the units. There aren't many plaids in mine!